Tape or strip handling apparatus



p 15957 .1. F. WINTERBOTTOM ETAL 3,342,390

TAPE OR STRIP HANDLING APPARATUS Filed March 1, .1965

United States Patent 3,342,390 TAPE OR STRIP HANDLING APPARATUS John Frank Winterbottom, John Vernon Panter, and

John Alan Jones, London, England, assignors to English Electric-Leo Computers Limited, London, England,

a British company Filed Mar. 1, 1965, Ser. No. 435,986 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Mar. 5, 1964, 9,433/64; Mar. 9, 1964, 9,929/ 64 3 Claims. (Cl. 226-45) The invention relates to apparatus for folding fan-folding flexible strip-like material. Such material has spaced creases extending across its width, the creases being spaced apart along the length of the material by equal longitu dinal sections of the material and being arranged to enable the material to fold zig-zag fashion. The material may be paper tape.

According to one aspect of the invention, apparatus for folding a longitudinally moving fan-folding flexible striplike material comprises guide means arranged closely adjacent to the two sides of the material so as to guide the material in a substantially straight path as it moves downwardly in use, receiving means comprising support means having a smooth surface facing one end of the guide means for receiving the material as it issues from the guide means and constraining means arranged to constrain the material on the surface when it has been received, and adjusting means for automatically adjusting the distance between the smooth surface and the said one end of the guide means, the arrangement being such that the material issuing from the said one end of the guide means is folded zig-zag fashion at the creases on to the smooth surface with one section of the material on top of the preceding section, the adjusting means maintaining the distance between the said one end of the guide means and the uppermost section of material on the smooth surface substantially equal to half the length of a section of the material.

Advantageously, the said smooth surface is curved along a line normal to the two sides of the material in the guide means so as to present a concave shape to the said one end of the guide means.

In an embodiment of the invention, the receiving means is movable downwardly and in the opposite direction, and the adjusting means comprises means driven simultaneously with movement of the material through the guide means for positively driving the receiving means away from the guide means as the material moves through the guide means.

In another embodiment of the invention, the receiving means is movable downwardly and in the opposite direction, and the adjusting means comprises means substantially balancing the weight of the receiving means so that the receiving means moves away from the guide means under the influence of gravity as the smooth surface receives the material issuing from the guide means.

Apparatus according to the invention may advantageously include detecting means arranged for detecting incorrect folding of the material.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a paper tape unit for reading data from, or punching data onto, paper tape, including apparatus as described above for folding the paper tape.

A paper tape reader, for reading data from paper tape, including apparatus embodying the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the acompanying drawing which shows a side elevation of the puncher in somewhat diagrammatic form.

The reader has a platform 5 mounted on supports 6. The platform supports a reading mechanism 7 by means of which holes in the tape representing data are sensed and signals produced at output lines 8. The platform 5 has two transverse slots, a large slot 9 and a small slot 10.

The large slot provides a through passage from a paper tape cassette 11 from which paper tape to be punched is drawn in a manner to be described. The cassette 11 is readily detachable from the platform 5. It is made from transparent material and has a removable bottom 11A which is shown supporting a convex platform 12 carrying the paper tape.

The small slot 10 provides a through passage into a container 13 which includes the apparatus for folding the paper tape. A guide 14 comprising two closely mounted plates of Width slightly greater than the width of the paper tape extends downwardly from the small slot 10 into the container 13. The lower end or mouth of the guide 14 has two lips 15. The lower end of the guide faces a concave platform 16 mounted at the base of a cassette 17 which is freely slidable in a vertical direction inside the container 13. The cassette 17 is transparent like the cassette 11 and has a removable bottom 17A. the cassette 17 is suspended from cords 18 which pass up through the platform 5, over pullies 19 and are connected to the ends of springs 20 whose other ends are anchored to the container 13. The springs 20 are arranged to balance substantially the weight of the cassette 17. Mounted on either side of the reading mechanism 7 are guide plates 21 and 22 for guiding the paper tape, and pairs of driving rollers 23 and 24.

The paper tape 25 used in the reader is of the fanfolding type, that is, has spaced creases extending across its Width, the creases being spaced apart along the length of the tape by equal longitudinal sections of the tape and being arranged to enable the tape to fold zig-zag fashion.

The operation of the apparatus will now be described. Initially, fan-folding paper tape to be read is placed in the cassette 11 folded at the creases in the zig-zag fashion shown. Before the reader is started up, the end of the tape is fed from the cassette 11 through the slot 9, between the driving rollers 23, over the guide plates 21, through the reading mechanism 7, over the guide plate 22, between the driving rollers 24, through the slot 10, through the guide 14 and into the container 13 holding the cassette 17. When tape is to be read, the driving rollers 23 and 24 rotate and drive the tape from the cassette 11 to the container 13, the reading process being carried out in the mechanism 7 and producing signals on output lines 8. As the paper tape emerges from the lower end of the guide 14, the end of the tape slides along the concave platform 16 at the base of the cassette 17 causing a section of tape, that is, the length of tape between two creases, to lie on the platform. The distance between the lower end of the guide 14 and the paper on the platform 16, as maintained by the tension in the springs 20 and the inherent friction in the pullies 19 is such that the tape issuing from the guide 14 forces the next section of tape to lie on the top of the section already on the platform 16, the tape being folded up in this way, zig-zag fashion, onto the platform. The distance between the lower end of the guide 14 and the uppermost section of paper on the platform at any given time is relatively critical if the correct folding is to be achieved and it has been found that this distance should be approximately half the length of a section of tape. As the tape issues from the guide 14, and folds itself on the platform 16, the added weight on the platform causes the cassette 17 to be lowered overcoming the friction of the pullies 19 and the tension in the springs 20.

The apparatus described enables paper tape to be fed and folded at speeds of the order of to 200 inches per second. If the platform 16 is flat, the speed of tape folding is lower.

Means are provided for stopping feeding of the tape in the event of incorrect folding. The means comprise a pair of lamps 26 and 27 mounted on the sides of the container 13. The cassette 17 is transparent, as explained, and the lamps respectively project light to photocells 28 and 29 mounted near the lower end of the guide 14. If, due to faulty folding, the light path to one or both of the photocells is obscured by the paper tape building up against the sides of the cassette, then an electrical signal is generated by the photocells to stop the feeding of the paper. For clarity, the connections to the lamps and the photocells have been omitted in the drawing.

It will be observed that the cassettes 11 and 17 are interchangeable. They may be detached from the apparatus and their bottoms removed and refitted at the opposite ends of the cassettes. If the cassettes are then inverted, the platforms 12 and 16 will again rest on the bottoms and the cassettes can then be refitted to the apparatus in positions opposite to the original positions.

In another embodiment, the cassette 17 is not suspended by the cords 18 and springs 20, but is arranged to be raised and lowered by a screw and nut mechanism driven directly from the driving rollers; the lowering of the cassette 17 as paper enters the container 13 can thus he more positively related to the amount of paper which has entered the container 13.

The apparatus may be arranged with a container similar to the container 13, that is, a container including a guide 14 and a cassette 17, on the right hand side of the apparatus instead of only the cassette 11. Such an arrangement permits the paper to be fed and folded at high speed in either direction. The apparatus illustrated does not have this facility because the cassette 11 cannot receive paper tape at more than a slow rate.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a tape handler for handling a tape having creases in opposite directions at equal distances along the tape, comprising: a first cassette adapted to initially contain the tape; a transducing station; a second cassette; driving means for moving the tape out of the first cassette and through the transducing station, and feeding it substantially squarely from a feed point into the second cassette, thereby causing the tape to form a stack in the second cassette; and distance-controlling means having a limited speed of operation for maintaining the distance between the feed point and the stack in the second cassette at substantially half the distance between successive creases in the tape, the improvement comprising fault-detecting means arranged to detect the presence of the tape in the second cassette in the region around the feed point and further from the stack than the feed point.

2. A tape handler according to claim 1, wherein the fault-detecting means comprises photo-electric means which produces at least one beam of light which defines the boundary of said region.

3. A tape handler according to claim 1, wherein the fault-detecting means is coupled to the driving means so that, on detection of the tape in said region, the tape is halted.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,521,440 9/1950 Bannon 226--118 X 2,525,311 10/ 1950 Peyrebrune 27188 3,016,207 1/1962 Comstock.

3,037,768 6/1962 Anderson et a1 27079 X 3,123,269 3/1964 Morley et ,al. 226- X 3,137,499 6/1964 Maidrnent 27188 X 3,178,172 4/ 1965 Lettan 270-79 SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A TAPE HANDLER FOR HANDLING A TAPE HAVING CREASES IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS AT EQUAL DISTANCES ALONG THE TAPE, COMPRISING: A FIRST CASSETTE ADAPTED TO INITIALLY CONTAIN THE TAPE; A TRANSDUCING STATION; A SECOND CASSETE; DRIVING MEANS FOR MOVING THE TAPE OUT OF THE FIRST CASSETTE AND THROUGH THE TRANSDUCING STATION, AND FEEDING IT SUBSTANTIALLY SQUARELY FROM A FEED POINT INTO THE SECOND CASSETTE, THEREBY CAUSING THE TAPE TO FORM A STACK IN THE SECOND CASSETTE; AND DISTANCE-CONTROLLING MEANS HAVING A LIMITED SPEED OF OPERATION FOR MAINTAINING THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE FEED POINT AND THE STACK IN THE SECOND CASSETTE AT SUBSTANTIALLY HALF THE DISTANCE BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE CREASES IN THE TAPE, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING FAULT-DETECTING MEANS ARRANGED TO DETECT THE PRESENCE OF THE TAPE IN THE SECOND CASSETTE IN THE REGION AROUND THE FEED POINT AND FURTHER FROM THE STACK THAN THE FEED POINT. 